'The Worm' Turns Up In North Korea: Dennis Rodman Is On Visit

"PYONGYANG, North Korea — Former NBA star Dennis Rodman brought his basketball skills Tuesday and flamboyant style — neon-bleached hair, tattoos, nose studs and all — to the isolated communist country with possibly the world's drabbest dress code: North Korea.

"Arriving in Pyongyang, the American athlete and showman known as 'The Worm' became an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. Or maybe not so unlikely: Young leader Kim Jong Un is said to have been a fan of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, when Rodman won three championships with the club.

"Rodman is joining three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team for a Vice Media production to air on HBO in early April, Vice founder Shane Smith told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview before the group's departure from Beijing."

Smith tells the AP that Rodman and the others may run a basketball camp for children and hope to play some pickup games with North Korean athletes. The U.S. State Department wasn't consulted about the trip, an official tells the wire service.

"Loud. Flamboyant. Brash. Brilliant. While Dennis Rodman was both celebrated and hated for his tattoos, colorful hair, and bad boy attitude, there was no denying the greatness of a man that controlled games just by controlling the boards. The six-foot-eight-inch forward led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record-setting seven consecutive seasons from 1991 to 1998. A two-time Defensive Player of the Year and seven-time All-Defensive First Team honoree, Rodman loved doing the dirty work that is crucial to a team's success. "The Worm" won his first NBA championship in 1989 with the Detroit Pistons. The following year Rodman was the league's best defender and he helped the Pistons capture a second consecutive ring. In 1995, after a short stint with the San Antonio Spurs, Rodman landed in Chicago where he teamed with fellow Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to bring the Windy City three titles in three years. A three-time All-America at Southeastern Oklahoma State, Rodman led the NAIA in rebounding his junior and senior seasons."

As NPR's Frank Langfitt tells our Newscast Desk, Rodman's visit comes at yet another tense time: "Earlier this month, North Korea tested its third nuclear device, angering the its neighbors in Northeast Asia as well as the U.S."